Binge drinking is not rape

Last updated on: June 6, 2016 at 2:04 pm by Kate Cousino

Binge drinking is not rape 2016-06-06T14:04:00-04:00 Kate Cousino

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The Stanford rapist, Brock Turner (and there you are, may those words accompany that name on Google for far, far longer than the measly 6-month sentence the man will serve), has promised to speak to youth about the dangers of “binge drinking and promiscuous sex.”
His father begged for mercy in sentencing because digitally penetrating an unconscious woman behind a dumpster was just “20 minutes of action” out of 20 years of life, and also echoed the line about the dangers of drinking and promiscuity.
I want to say this:
Binge drinking is not rape.
Promiscuous sex, as dumb and dangerous as it is, is not rape.
Penetrating a non-responsive stranger with your fingers, shoving pine needles and dirt inside her while you dry hump her body until someone notices you you and scares you off—whether or not the law recognizes digital penetration as rape, THAT IS RAPE.
Drinking does not explain or excuse what Brock Turner (and seriously, doesn’t that name sound like a parody of privilege? Could you think of a more privilege, WASPy name?) chose to do that night.

Drinking to excess can remove inhibitions. It can make a person suggestible. It can injure judgment. But none of those things will turn you from a decent, caring, empathetic human being into someone who would drag an incoherent woman behind a dumpster to get in her underpants.
A decent guy gets drunk and makes embarrassing passes at attractive women, and is ashamed the next day. A decent guy doesn’t get drunk, separate a woman from her friends, and stick his fingers inside her as soon as she is incoherent or unconscious enough not to be able to protest.
Promiscuous sex can spread disease, make people vulnerable to exploitation, hurt hearts, and create drama. It cannot, however, take a non-violent person and make them commit acts of violence and violation.
Did drinking have a part in Turner’s actions? Sure it did. It gave him an excuse.
Did the current age’s obsession with no-strings-attached sex have a part in Turner’s actions? Maybe. It may have been part of his sense of entitlement.
Did either cause him to rape a woman behind a dumpster?
No.
He did that himself. Edited to add this cogent observation, from friend Christina P.:

You mean to tell me we live in a country where the top medical authorities advise “women shouldn’t drink any alcohol unless they’re on birth control,” but men can do this shit and get off next to Scot free because of alcohol?
Y’all, until alcohol is not a viable excuse for rape and assault it should be illegal for a man to even get wasted.

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